1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle that is provided with an electric power storage device and a grille shutter, and a control method for the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
A grille shutter, which is disposed in a front grille in the front of a vehicle, is used to adjust the amount of air outside the vehicle (traveling wind) which is introduced into the vehicle during the traveling. When the grille shutter is in a closed state, the amount of the air that is introduced into the vehicle is decreased, and thus air resistance is reduced. Then, fuel economy can be improved.
In a vehicle whose engine is intermittently stopped during the traveling, examples of which include a hybrid car, the temperature of the engine becomes less likely to decrease while the engine is stopped when the grille shutter is in a closed state. Then, fuel economy can be improved because the amount of the fuel consumed in order to warm up the engine is reduced. As described above, a grille shutter in general is controlled in view of fuel economy improvement.
Control for adjusting the degree of opening of a grille shutter in accordance with the temperature of an engine has been proposed in order to prevent the overheating of the engine. For example, the hybrid car that is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-22297 is provided with a radiator, traveling wind introduction means capable of adjusting traveling wind introduction into the radiator, and traveling wind introduction control means for controlling the traveling wind introduction means. When the temperature of the engine exceeds a predetermined temperature, the traveling wind introduction control means controls the traveling wind introduction means so that more traveling wind is introduced into the radiator. Then, the radiator is cooled and the engine becomes less likely to have a higher-than-necessary temperature.